By Glenn R. Jackson

Shortly after the September 11^th attack Franklin Graham, son and successor to evangelist Billy Graham, came under intense criticism for calling Islam “a very evil and wicked religion.” Last week the Associated Press reported remarks by Franklin Graham that show he still holds some very un-Politically Correct views.

The AP quotes Mr. Graham as saying “The silence of the (Islamic) clerics around the world is frightening to me.'' “How come they haven't come to this country, how come they haven't apologized to the American people, how come they haven't reassured the American people that this is not true Islam and that these people are not acting in the name of Allah, they're not acting in the name of Islam?''

Reaction from the U.S. Muslim community has been to voice outrage at Franklin Graham. According to the AP, U.S. Muslim clerics were catching on quickly to the liberal’s Political Correctness defense. Assuming correctly that for American Liberals claims of “hate” trump all reason, self-preservation, and common sense the AP offers this quote from Dr. Masood Khan, chairman of the Charlotte Islamic School board, “What surprised us is that he's a leader of such stature. But instead of respecting other faiths, he's spreading hate.''

At this point alarm bells should be sounding in every reasonable readers mind all across America. A dawning sense of clarity about the essence of the Terror War should be with every American.

For if the truth be told, “hate” is not always the wrong emotion to feel in circumstances like these. For example I “hate:”

Watching men and women plunge to their deaths rather than be burned alive because of deliberate and planned acts of death against people they call infidels.
Knowing that wives were widowed and children left never to see their hero father’s again because of deliberate and planned acts of death against people they call infidels.
Knowing that there were children on those four planes who lived a nightmare of blood, violence, and terror before their young lives were ended because of deliberate and planned acts of death against people they call infidels.
The nagging little worry in the back of my mind for my wife, family and friends working in metropolitan areas that have become “target rich environments” because of deliberate and planned acts of death against people they call infidels.

Fortunately while we “hate what is evil” we can “cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9) and herein lays the solution that Franklin Graham is trying to impart to the leaders of Islam. The lesson is simple and it comes from the bedrock of the Christian faith.

Strange that the religion so deeply “hated” by American Liberals, such that its very name they seek to equate to “hate”, carries the key to hatreds destruction. Repentance, the turning from evil, is the Christian principle that Franklin Graham seeks to see in Islam.

While Christian’s are called to “Hate what is evil,” they recognize that turning away from evil is an event to be rejoiced: “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret…” (2 Corinthians 7:10). And it is with this understanding that Franklin Graham’s comments must be seen.

Yet there is more to these comments, for the Bible also tells us that: “He (God) does not take his eyes off the righteous; he enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever. But if men are bound in chains, held fast by cords of affliction, he tells them what they have done- that they have sinned arrogantly. He makes them listen to correction and commands them to repent of their evil. (Job 36:7-10)

If the truth be told, and Franklin Graham is the only one speaking the truth thus far, Islam is bound in chains and held fast by the afflictions of a militant and evil branch. A hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil Politically Correct approach to Islam, as being practiced by America’s leadership, will not free Islam from the chains. Only the truth will free Islam.

If the truth be told, it is time for Islam to repent!

Glenn R. Jackson is Chairman of the American Reformation Project, former State Chairman for Buchanan Reform and former state Chairman of the Georgia Freedom Party. Glenn also served on the Executive Committee of the Reform Party USA. Glenn holds an MA in Philosophy from Georgia State University in Atlanta.